Turnout slow in GOP presidential primary

Brian Lockhart

Updated 1:01 pm, Tuesday, April 24, 2012

More Information

Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.
Eligible voters must have registered as Republicans by noon Monday.
Voters can visit www.sots.ct.gov to find their polling place.
Anyone with questions or complaints is encouraged to contact the state elections hotline at 1-866 SEECINFO or email elections@ct.gov.

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After months of cheering from the sidelines, Connecticut Republicans finally get to cast their votes Tuesday for the party's presidential nominee in an anti-climactic state primary.

The major questions Tuesday are how many voters will turn out and will Romney handily win all of the state's 25 delegates. Santorum's name remains on the ballot, along with those of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

Av Harris, a spokesman for the Secretary of the State's Office, said participation is expected to be low.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you saw something in the 15-to-20 percent range," Harris said. "The outcome of the Republican nominating race is fairly certain at this point (and) Romney was heavily favored here anyway."

In Trumbull, turnout was slow Tuesday morning, said Kathleen Miranti, assistant registrar of voters for the Republican party. Shortly before 10 a.m., only about 100 of the town's 6,027 registered Republican voters had shown up at the polls. Miranti attributed the low numbers to multiple factors. For one thing, she said, some voters were confused by the fact that school was in session, which it often isn't on election days. But Miranti was hopeful turnout would pick up throughout the day.

Turnout for the Republican presidential primary was also light Tuesday morning morning in Fairfield.

"This particular district is very, very faithful with voting," said poll worker Virginia Rysz, as she sat waiting for voters at the District 10 polling station at Penfield Pavilion. "We're fairly slow today."

Over at the Senior Center, where the District 1 -- traditionally a GOP stronghold -- polling station is set up, turnout wasn't much better. By 11 a.m., about 30 ballots had been cast, with the first voter not until 40 minutes after the polls opened at 6 a.m.

Joseph Krotki, a Romney fan, said he served in the Navy and his destroyer was sunk off of Okinawa. "I almost lost my life," the 91-year-old said. "I think this country is worth fighting for now, as it was then."

Mildred Hauser said she finds voting in a primary is almost counterintuitive.

"A lot of times I don't vote, and when I don't, I get the one I want," Hauser said as she was leaving the District 1 polls in the Senior Center. This time, she said, she decided to give it "another try."

Hauser wasn't willing to reveal who she cast her ballot for, but said, "I really wasn't sure until the moment I got here."

She said there were "a couple of them that are pretty good, so I was going back and forth ... time will tell."

Voting in the Valley has also been very slow.

"It couldn't be any slower," said Nancy Valentine, Ansonia's Republican registrar of voters. She said that 15 people had voted by 8 a.m. and the number had doubled to 30 by 10 a.m. All 17 of the city's voting places are open. There are 1,200 Republicans in the city, she said.

In Derby, there were no figures yet as to how many Republican voters have gone to the polls. But, according to Ernestine Gaudio, the Republican registrar, "it's been very slow." There are 926 Republicans in that city and voting is taking place at Irving and Bradley schools, she said.

Elise Wood, Seymour's Republican registrar, said it's been the same in that town. "I was there first thing this morning and it was quiet," she said.

In Shelton, only .0358 Republicans have voted so far. That's just 217 of the estimated 6,060 city Republicans, said Democratic registrar John "Jack" Finn.

The polls were also slow in Monroe, with only 100 of the 3,278 registered Republicans having cast a vote by noon.

"It's been very, very quiet," said moderator Debbie Dutches, who was working the polls at Monroe Elementary. "We've been getting about three people an hour."

There are about 13,000 registered voters in Monroe. Republicans make up the majority of affiliated voters in town.

Civita Wilcox, 75, of Monroe, said she voted for candidate Mitt Romney because "he just looks like a president."

Wilcox said she has been a Republican since birth and has never missed a voting day.

"We did listen to all four, but it was pretty much Romney from the beginning," Wilcox said. "He's very opposite of many of Obama's views and we don't like Obama's directions for things and how he has not nurtured foreign affairs...But we aren't just anti-Obama. We're pro-Romney."

Frances Cambra, 70, of Monroe, said she voted because it is her civic duty. She also voted for Mitt Romney.

"I think he's a good man and has good ideas," Cambra said. "I think he has a good chance against Obama. We need someone to turn the country around."

Though it lacks suspense, Connecticut's primary marks some firsts for the state.

This is the first presidential primary since lawmakers amended the state Constitution allowing 17-year-olds to vote if they turn 18 by the general election in November.

According to the Secretary of the State's office, since the start of the year more than 2,200 17-year-olds have registered, including 543 Republicans.

Also, the primary date has been pushed back from prior years, when it was scheduled on the first Tuesday in February.

At the urging of the national Republican and Democratic parties, Connecticut lawmakers joined colleagues in other states in pushing back the date to spread out the nationwide contest.

Connecticut settled on the last Tuesday in April to coincide with primaries in New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Delaware. The hope was this informal Northeast regional primary would lead candidates to visit the state.

Romney made a campaign stop in Hartford April 11 and his wife was the keynote speaker at the party's annual Prescott Bush Awards Dinner on Monday evening in Stamford. But Santorum had written off the "blue" Northeast while in the race.

Republicans who have yet to embrace Romney not only have the choice of Santorum, Gingrich and Paul but can also, according to the Secretary of the State's office, vote "uncommitted."

And those votes matter more because of a recent rule changes within the state GOP. The party used to award all of its national convention delegates to the winner of the presidential primary. This year, that "winner-takes-all" approach is triggered only if a candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote. Otherwise, the contenders divvy up delegates based on the proportion of votes each received.

So, for example, Chris O'Brien, a Santorum campaign organizer in Connecticut, has said he remains cool to Romney and was likely to vote for his candidate or Gingrich.

But another Santorum backer -- Peter Wolfgang, head of the Family Institute of Connecticut Action -- on his Facebook page last week explained why he was comfortable switching allegiance to Romney.

"Marriage, life and religious liberty ... We must now coalesce around the only candidate who can defend these foundational values against a President who seems bent on destroying them," Wolfgang wrote.